$500M par for course – PGA charity reaps benefits

In the six decades since its founding, the PGA Tour has raised more than $500 million for charity.

PGA Tour players this year will compete for a record $158 million in prize money– and the tour’s expanded earnings simply will add to the professional golf’s charitable purse, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem told the Jacksonville Business Journal.

“Charity has become a second mission for the PGA Tour,” he said. “Not only does it help people in need, it reinforces the positive image of the players and their sport.”

Finchem said charity is part of a smart business strategy that has kept the PGA Tour at the forefront of a growing number of professional golf tours throughout the world.

The tour’s primary focus is to present the sport in a positive manner, he told the Journal. Charity and the image of tour player bolster that reputation.

“The professional golfer is perceived as a family man with no criminal difficulties haunting him like certain players in other professional sports,” Finchem said.

Tiger Woods has had a great impact on the game’s image and will prompt more people to play golf, he said.